John Denver Sanctuary Virtual Cache
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(virtual)
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He was born in the summer of his 27th year. Coming home to a place he’d never been before….
John Denver, beloved entertainer, environmentalist, and humanitarian, called Aspen his home for much of his life. He loved the Rocky Mountains and shared that love with all of the world through his music.
What some of you may not know, is that John also was very passionate about the environment. He founded two groups, The Windstar Foundation, which conserved land in Snowmass, and Plant It 2020, a reforestation program.
How fitting, it was then, that after his tragic passing in 1997, that Jeff Woods, Manager of Parks and Recreation at the City of Aspen met with Annie Denver to plan a place to celebrate John’s life. A place that would be more than a memorial, but a place to reflect John’s passion for nature and protecting the environment.
The John Denver Sanctuary, a 4.5 acre memorial garden park, is open and free to the public to enjoy. You’ll find boulders in John’s Song Garden surrounding the posted coordinates with many of his songs engraved into them. There are groves of native trees, shrubs, and wild flowers. Easy trails meander through the constructed wetlands, streams and waterfalls for you to enjoy in this unique landscape that not only captures Aspen’s beauty, but also cleans the community’s storm water runoff. I think John would have thought that was "farout!"
There is no public parking at the sanctuary. Parking at the nearby parking garage is recommended. Note that the park closes at 9pm.
To claim this cache, you will need to visit the posted coordinates to collect the following:
1. Entering the “stage” of the amphitheater from the stream side, you will pass through a split boulder with two vertical faces. EMAIL us the names of the two songs engraved on the faces.
2. Find the “Rocky Mountain High” etched rock from the Song Garden. Post a picture of your gps, your watch, or another means including an embedded date, in front of the rock, with or without you.
Since we have you go to the Rocky Mountain High rock, decided to add a waypoint for the associated album cover shot located a short drive away. Not required for the cache but earns bonus bragging points for any fans who want to recreate the cover. Accessed via rail-trail from the trail parking along McLain Flats Road.
There's no cache in that vicinity, but let us know if anyone places one along that theme.
Logs with spoiler photos will be deleted. Logs without the required picture (posted or emailed) will also be deleted to prevent armchair finds.
Virtual Reward - 2017/2018
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between August 24, 2017 and August 24, 2018. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards on the Geocaching Blog.
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)